Para-soccer Championship: Delta humiliate Zamfara 7-0

The sixth edition of the World Polio Day Para-soccer National Championship gradually hits the climax with the Delta State Para-soccer team humiliating their Zamfara counterparts 7-0 on Tuesday to qualified for the semi-final against Kano.

The championship is taking place at the Rowe Park Sports Centre in Yaba, Lagos. Ibrahim Hashim recorded a brace in the seventh and 49th minutes, while Abdullahi Garuba also got a brace in the 21st and 43 minutes for Delta.

Aliyah Jamilu, Hadid Haladu, and Tasiu Musa scored a goal each in the 9th, 35th and 54th minutes. The Coach of the Delta team, Adamu Muhammad, described the game as exciting.

He told our news source that his team was in high spirit and looked forward to the semi-final match against Kano.

“We are very happy to have won our quarter-final match. “The players are in high spirit. We are going into the semi-final to prove a point.

“I thank the Federation for organizing the competition,” Muhammed said. In one of the quarter-final matches played on Monday, Kano defeated the host, Lagos State 2-0 to qualify for the semi-final.

Kaduna State also defeated their counterpart from Nasarawa State, 2-0 to set up a semi-final match against Katsina State.

Our news source reports that Rotary International sponsors the competition annually, to sensitize the nation on the need to kick out poliomyelitis from the country.

The organization also uses the event to support polio survivors. The competition is organized by the Para-soccer Federation of Nigeria (PFN) to further develop the game.

Para-soccer commenced in Nigeria in 1988, aimed at taking polio survivors off the street. The PFN President, Misbahu Didi, said that the federation was committed to taking the sport to the global stage.

“The idea is to show the world that polio survivors can play soccer in their own way. “We also want to use the game to take survivors out of the streets and engage them positively,’’ Didi said. The tournament, which is to commemorate World Polio Day will end on Oct.